Speaker 1: Husband, father, creator in basketball icon, Kobe Bryant leaves a
Speaker 1: complex legacy. I'm Steve Gregory and this is the death
Speaker 1: in life of Kobe Bryant. Cindy Borne is a sports
Speaker 1: reporter with the Washington Post and provided a recap on
Speaker 1: Brian's legacy the day after he died. Probably really was
Speaker 1: the Lakers. He embodied the Lakers son. Some players came
Speaker 1: and went, You know, Kobe was such a warrior on
Speaker 1: the basketball court, and he famously played with a torn
Speaker 1: achilles and finally he walked away. He had gotten as
Speaker 1: much out of his body as he could after the season,
Speaker 1: and he really sort of moved on then into his
Speaker 1: daughter's athleticism, into their athletic endeavors. And his second daughter,
Speaker 1: um Gianna, who was thirteen, was interested in basketball. She
Speaker 1: wanted to play in the w n b A, she
Speaker 1: wanted to go to Yukon, and Kobe found himself pulled
Speaker 1: back into basketball and really enjoying it again through her eyes.
Speaker 1: There will be people who will remember an allegation of
Speaker 1: a sexual assault and how that was dealt with. It
Speaker 1: is an unquestionably ugly part of his legacy. Um It's
Speaker 1: one that is some point receded into the background, but
Speaker 1: it does still exist. Kurt Alexander, the host of the
Speaker 1: nationally syndicated radio show Big Boys Neighborhood, says he was
Speaker 1: a personal friend of Bryant's and knew him when he
Speaker 1: first arrived in l A. I asked him what he
Speaker 1: thought Bryant's legacy could be. Man, I would have to
Speaker 1: say the super human being legacy. You know, it's not
Speaker 1: a legacy of basketball. You know, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: basketball fans, but I think that people love Kobe as
Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant. There's there's a there's an umbrella, there's the top,
Speaker 1: and then everything else falls into There's Kobe Bryant, and
Speaker 1: then there's basketball player father. There's so many things that
Speaker 1: fall under that. So I think the legacy is just
Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant. You can't define Kobe Bryant by basketball. I've
Speaker 1: known Kobe years and I don't say, oh, you know
Speaker 1: when I enter or whatever. I don't I don't know
Speaker 1: how many right now? What is he five rings? Like?
Speaker 1: And that's my guests just like calculating. But I never
Speaker 1: equated Kobe to the jewelry on his finger, the trophies
Speaker 1: at the Staples Center, it was just Kobe Bryant. Everything
Speaker 1: else fell under that. So I think that when we
Speaker 1: think of legacy, hold Kobe Bryant as a legacy, not
Speaker 1: as a legendary basketball player. Sports journalist Larry Brown owns
Speaker 1: the website Larry brown sports dot com and covered the
Speaker 1: crash that morning. He says Bryant's legacy is more sports centric.
Speaker 1: I mean, absolutely beloved in Los Angeles, and there are
Speaker 1: so many great Lakers, Magic Johnson and Kareema, Jerry West.
Speaker 1: I mean, you look up at the rafters at Staples
Speaker 1: and see all the jerseys up there. There's so many
Speaker 1: great Lakers, um shack. You know. It's but it's really
Speaker 1: hard to argue against Kobe as the greatest, for the
Speaker 1: length of time he spent with the team, for everything
Speaker 1: he accomplished with the team. It's it's hard to argue
Speaker 1: against that. It's a great legacy. I think another part
Speaker 1: of his legacy is how beloved he was, not just
Speaker 1: by basketball fans, but multicultural appeal. You know, one of
Speaker 1: the things about Kobe was not only did he grow
Speaker 1: up speaking Italian, but he knew Spanish and he knew
Speaker 1: other languages, and so he could communicate. He knew that
Speaker 1: Laker fans were a very diverse fan base. Um, lots
Speaker 1: of Persian Laker fans, lots of Asian ones, Aremenian Laker fans,
Speaker 1: and he he tried to appeal to all of them,
Speaker 1: and he appealed to all of them. And so I
Speaker 1: think Kobe's appeal was transcended culture because of his character,
Speaker 1: his determination and his will to win. It just crosses
Speaker 1: all cultures and attracts people. And that's part of his legacy.
Speaker 1: And then you know, really after his retirement, It wasn't
Speaker 1: until after his death and I started to hear all
Speaker 1: these stories people were telling about how much Kobe gave
Speaker 1: back to the game of basketball that I really started
Speaker 1: to see his legacy. It wasn't just about what he
Speaker 1: accomplished on the court, but so much of his legacy
Speaker 1: was about what he did after he had retired. All
Speaker 1: these players were coming out and talking about how Kobe
Speaker 1: would would break down game footage for them and would
Speaker 1: try and work in one on one sessions with them. Um,
Speaker 1: he was trying to give back everything that he had
Speaker 1: learned earned over the course of his career to the
Speaker 1: current players so that they could keep it going forward
Speaker 1: so that the game of basketball would not lose all
Speaker 1: that knowledge, uh, and that it would continue to be
Speaker 1: passed down. And that's such a big part of his legacy,
Speaker 1: was what he gave back to the game because he
Speaker 1: recognized how much it gave to him. And Uh, I
Speaker 1: think that message was conveyed so clearly that I hadn't
Speaker 1: realized it prior to his death, but afterwards, when all
Speaker 1: these players were talking about what he had done for them,
Speaker 1: I really started to see it. And and you know,
Speaker 1: Kobe didn't publicize that, UM, and I respect him more
Speaker 1: for not publicizing that that we found out later through
Speaker 1: these people, And I think that's part of his legacy.
Speaker 1: It's a really nice part of his legacy. Kevin Beggs
Speaker 1: is the chairman of lions Gate Television and a board
Speaker 1: member of My Friend's Place, a nonprofit dedicated to helping
Speaker 1: young people experiencing homelessness. We've talked about Brian's involvement with
Speaker 1: the organization in previous episodes. Begs says two of the
Speaker 1: best moments at My Friends Place finding out Bryant wanted
Speaker 1: to get involved and the time he provided enough funding
Speaker 1: to renovate the facility in Hollywood Begs says Bryant was
Speaker 1: one of a kind. I mean, I think his legacy
Speaker 1: on the court extends to his legacy and all he does,
Speaker 1: whether it was in film and television, or philanthropy or
Speaker 1: or business. You know, a relentless commitment to excellence. Right.
Speaker 1: Nobody can come close to the work ethic. We've seen
Speaker 1: the workouts and the way UH he prepared and the
Speaker 1: singular focus on winning and UH and on teamwork, and
Speaker 1: I you know, these are lessons that I think everyone
Speaker 1: can learn from in every aspect of their life, whether
Speaker 1: they're a professional superstar playing you know at the A's
Speaker 1: the greatest arena and level of professional basketball, or anything else.
Speaker 1: But you know, hard, hard work and UH and commitment
Speaker 1: to excellence will pay off. And I think that's speaks
Speaker 1: to us as citizens of l A, as professionals in
Speaker 1: our work lives and in our family, UM, in philanthropic endeavors.
Speaker 1: So to me, that's you know, his his consistency of message.
Speaker 1: It goes across everything he does and everything he did.
Speaker 1: And I think that's that's the legacy I'm going to
Speaker 1: focus on. And I think that's one that we can
Speaker 1: all take with us despite him not being with us anymore.
Speaker 1: It's the Ellen Kay Q and a Hellen Coast one
Speaker 1: of three point five, and we ask the question first
Speaker 1: color with the right answer. Ellen kay is a popular
Speaker 1: radio host and well known voiceover artist in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: He's been the announcer for the Academy Awards, the Grammys,
Speaker 1: and the Emmy's, and she was also the announcer for
Speaker 1: Bryant's memorial at Staple Center. Throughout the years, she remembers
Speaker 1: seeing Bryant in the hallways of her radio station. Kobe
Speaker 1: has been coming in here to my heart since before
Speaker 1: we were iHeart. So when he first got here, you
Speaker 1: know Vic the Brick. Vic befriended Kobe right away and
Speaker 1: they used to sit on the beach together. Maybe Vick
Speaker 1: has told you the story and talk about life, and
Speaker 1: so Vic brought him by the Rick Dys Show several times.
Speaker 1: So there's early Kobe right. Then Kobe ends up marrying Vanessa,
Speaker 1: who was a really good friend of Patti Rodriguez, who
Speaker 1: was on our show, and so there was more Kobe
Speaker 1: and that connection, and then you know, Kobe was coming
Speaker 1: into my heart for interviews. I mean up until I
Speaker 1: would say a month before he he passed. There was
Speaker 1: just always a connection. He loved to come in and
Speaker 1: do radio, I know, with you know a M five
Speaker 1: SEV L A sports and he was just always kind
Speaker 1: of like a regular I would say, so yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I knew Kobe through the years and we always would
Speaker 1: take My son is nineteen now, but one of the
Speaker 1: things that that we made a point of doing as
Speaker 1: he was growing up was taking him to see the
Speaker 1: greats when they played. We took him to see David
Speaker 1: Beckham bendit when he was at the Galaxy. Of of
Speaker 1: course he saw Shack play, Luke Robotie, you know, any
Speaker 1: sports great We're right there. We just wanted him to see, like,
Speaker 1: look at this. So Kobe was one of our one
Speaker 1: of our favorites to go and watch. So when I
Speaker 1: asked what she thought Bryant's legacy might be, Wow, I
Speaker 1: think it is. You know, I love your family, love
Speaker 1: your city, do what you love with all of your heart.
Speaker 1: I think his legacy is is one of excellence. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think he's a reminder that he really loved every
Speaker 1: minute of his life. I think he's a lesson in
Speaker 1: living coming up. The Mayor of Los Angeles says Briant's
Speaker 1: legacy is about grit and love, as the death and
Speaker 1: life of Kobe Bryant continues, m M. Los Angeles County
Speaker 1: Sheriff alex Via Nueva says he remembers being a deputy
Speaker 1: when he became a big fan of Bryant's and when
Speaker 1: asked about Brian's legacy, I think twofold his legacy probably
Speaker 1: one of the fiercest competitors professional sports has ever seen.
Speaker 1: And uh uh, father figure, someone was really made that switch,
Speaker 1: you know, from professional career to his family life. And
Speaker 1: he gave everything for his family and he left nothing,
Speaker 1: nothing on the in the tank at all and everything
Speaker 1: he did. Some have felt Bryan's legacy is rooted in basketball,
Speaker 1: while others believe Bryant's legacy comes from being a personal
Speaker 1: role model. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti I think there's
Speaker 1: two legacies that Kobe leaves behind. One is of grit,
Speaker 1: you know, the grit and greatness that he showed um
Speaker 1: that you just if you want to be great, you
Speaker 1: gotta work at it. It doesn't come easy. It doesn't
Speaker 1: matter if you're talented. Talent A lot of people are
Speaker 1: talented in this town. A lot of people are talented
Speaker 1: in this world, but you gotta want it, you gotta
Speaker 1: fight for it. And then I think the second, though
Speaker 1: he didn't express it as such, was love. You know.
Speaker 1: I think the way he saw him as a family man,
Speaker 1: the way you know, he and Vanessa so so incredibly close,
Speaker 1: and the love of a father for a daughter, which
Speaker 1: I think for all of us that were fathers, which
Speaker 1: just blew us away. I mean he he himself said
Speaker 1: that he was so glad his career ended so that
Speaker 1: he could spend this time watching his girls grow up.
Speaker 1: And that is the legacy that you leave behind what
Speaker 1: you did and who you love of And what he
Speaker 1: did was all about l a greatness, and what he
Speaker 1: showed was all about l a love. The horrific crash
Speaker 1: that killed Bryant, his daughter, and seven others would cause
Speaker 1: a chain reaction of events that has led or could
Speaker 1: possibly lead to change in TSB. Board member Jennifer Hammondy
Speaker 1: was the head of the go team that arrived at
Speaker 1: the crash site. She spoke to the media and also
Speaker 1: pointed out related safety recommendations. The f a A refused
Speaker 1: to act upon recommendations that have been issued in the past,
Speaker 1: that the f a A A has failed to act on
Speaker 1: I want to talk talk about. I was asked about
Speaker 1: Terrain Awareness and Warning System or TAUS, which provides terrain
Speaker 1: information to the pilot. I was asked whether that was
Speaker 1: on this helicopter. We have verified it was not. In
Speaker 1: two thousand four, the NTSB investigated a crash involving inn
Speaker 1: s SEV S A in Galveston, Texas, which killed ten people.
Speaker 1: We issued a recommendation to the Federal Aviation Administration that
Speaker 1: stated require all existing and new US registered turbine powered
Speaker 1: rotorcraft certificated for six or more passenger seats to be
Speaker 1: equipped with the terrain Awareness and Warning System. They did
Speaker 1: not implement the recommendation. We closed the recommendation as unacceptable.
Speaker 1: Little did Homindy know at the time that lawmakers were
Speaker 1: paying attention. California lawmakers are pushing for the Kobe and
Speaker 1: Gianna Bryant Helicopter Safety Act. It would require all helicopters
Speaker 1: with six or more passengers to have to rain awareness equipment.
Speaker 1: Senator Diane Feinstein and Representative Brad Sherman reintroduced this bill
Speaker 1: just one day, but the legislation mirror is exactly the
Speaker 1: recommendations Homini spoke of in her media briefing at the
Speaker 1: scene of the crash. Bryant's wife, Vanessa would weigh in,
Speaker 1: saying she strongly urges the United States Congress passive federal
Speaker 1: law that would improve the safety of helicopters operating in
Speaker 1: this country. She believes there is a chance that Kobe
Speaker 1: and Gianna would still be alive today if their helicopter
Speaker 1: had been equipped with the safety equipment required by this
Speaker 1: pending federal legislation. Another bit of legislation a little closer
Speaker 1: to home, was based on actions of some of the
Speaker 1: deputies who were among the first responders at the scene
Speaker 1: of the crash. Sources tell k cal Mine Tonight Ellie
Speaker 1: Chemist Sheriff's deputies who responded to the crash site are
Speaker 1: accused of taking graphic photos and then sharing them. Were
Speaker 1: told those photos of the scene and victims remains were
Speaker 1: shared with other officials who had not. The incident was
Speaker 1: enough to prompt a lawsuit from Brian's widow for emotional distress.
Speaker 1: Ellie County Sheriff Alex Viennueva says he was so disgusted
Speaker 1: by the actions of the deputies he co sponsored legislation
Speaker 1: which would make it a crime for public safety personnel
Speaker 1: to take or share non official pictures of a crash
Speaker 1: site or disaster scene, especially those of a graphic nature.
Speaker 1: Beyond the legal legacies Briant's death leaves behind, there are
Speaker 1: also charities that continue to thrive because of Brian's generosity.
Speaker 1: To date, Briant, along with his wife, donated money or
Speaker 1: volunteered their time to at least ten nonprofit organizations, including
Speaker 1: Stand Up to Cancer, Make a Wish, United Way in
Speaker 1: the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Bryant's
Speaker 1: creative legacy includes a series of children's books and other
Speaker 1: media projects, not the least of which is Dear Basketball,
Speaker 1: the animated short film based on a published letter, a
Speaker 1: film that would also win an oscar and propel Bryant
Speaker 1: into another league. Altogether Free because that's what you do
Speaker 1: when someone makes you feel as alive as you've made
Speaker 1: me feel. You gave a Sushio, Boys, Lay Dream, and
Speaker 1: I Always Love Before. When exploring Bryant's legacy, there were
Speaker 1: many views from people of varying background, but there seemed
Speaker 1: to be a common theme among them. Perhaps Mike Asner,
Speaker 1: owner of the website Kobe mural dot Com sums it
Speaker 1: up best. His legacy to me is twofold at a
Speaker 1: very high level. It's obviously him as a champion and
Speaker 1: what he did for the city and for Lakers fans
Speaker 1: across the world, and as a die hard Laker fan.
Speaker 1: I'm grateful for that forever. But his legacy, more so,
Speaker 1: I think today than ever, is his work ethic and
Speaker 1: his mentality. And the thing that has stuck with me
Speaker 1: during this entire process, just talking to fans and artists,
Speaker 1: is it doesn't matter what you do, who you are,
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. You can imply what this man did in
Speaker 1: his life, the way he worked, how early he got up,
Speaker 1: how he pushed through during those days when you didn't
Speaker 1: want to work as hard. That applies to everybody, every ethnicity,
Speaker 1: every background. So for me personally, that's the thing I'll
Speaker 1: always stick out for me is as his true legacy,
Speaker 1: or as Bryant once said, the most important thing is
Speaker 1: to try and inspire people so that they can be
Speaker 1: great at whatever they want to do. I love you always, Kobe.
Speaker 1: The Death and Life of Kobe Bryant is produced by
Speaker 1: Steve Gregory and Jacob Gonzalez. And is a production of
Speaker 1: k FI news at I Heeart Media, Los Angeles, the
Speaker 1: iHeart podcast Network. A p insis Lolations, consistance in Sudan
Speaker 1: to insistantation, instant instantlution and insist in st